Heart Tattoo Designs - Purpose and Meaning

Humans have been decorating their bodies for thousands of years with everything from jewelry to extravagant clothing, and of course tattoos. Tattoos are a way to turn your body into a work of art. With advances in tattoo equipment, tattoos have gone from primitive one color sketches, to amazing works of art painted on the canvas of our skin.

Just a few decades ago, tattoos were limited to only a few subcultures of people such as the military, bikers, and gangs. For many years, tattoos were frowned upon. They were something that you might try to hide if you wanted to get a decent job. Now tattoos are common among all walks of life and are much more acceptable in the main stream culture.

People get tattoos for many reasons, but for the most part it's because they want to decorate their bodies and express themselves in an artistic form. However, many people also like their tattoos to honor someone close to them, such as a child, spouse, or friend. The obvious symbol for this is the heart tattoo.

When you think of hearts, you think of love, so heart tattoos represent some kind of love in your life. If you love someone, you might get a heart tattoo along with that person's name. You might even incorporate a heart into a larger tattoo which represents many different things in your life. But not all heart tattoo designs have a positive meaning.

Sometimes heart tattoo designs can represent someone who has hurt you, left you, or betrayed you. A heart with a dagger or sword through it may indicate betrayal by a loved one. A broken heart could mean a failed relationship. Then there is the heart with wings, which could indicate a free spirit, or a loved one who has passed on.

Another heart tattoo design that is very common is the sacred heart tattoo. This is a religious design that has Roman Catholic origins and represents the physical heart of Jesus Christ and his divine love for humanity. The sacred heart tattoo usually has flames around it and incorporates the crown of thorns and wounds to represent Christ's death on the cross. If you want a tattoo that represents your faith, then the sacred heart tattoo design is a great way to do that.

While there are many variations of heart tattoos, they all seem to revolve around the universal theme of love, past or present. Love being the greatest of human emotions, it makes sense to want to have the memory of someone you have loved engraved on your body as a reminder of what you have, or had. Tattoos are a way of explaining who you are and represent things in your life that are important to you.

So if you're thinking of getting a tattoo and you have a special person or past relationship that you want to remember and represent in the form of body art, then a heart tattoo design may be what you are looking for.

Growing up around tattoo parlors, Hilario Penga has become an expert on tattoo designs and the people who get them. You can find hundreds of heart tattoo designs at Killer Tattoo Designs (http://www.killertattoodesigns.com)